Successful J1 waiver (NOS, Philippines)

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New Member

Hello! My husband (Filipino) and I (US Citizen) recently submitted everything to CFO. He is in the same situation as you Choipogz and we were told that we had to meet the 2/3 rule. This is heartbreaking for us! I am looking for options to change his category and not sure what we CAN do. Praying for us.

New Member

I just wanted to share my experience with my NOS application from the EVP. I used this forum previously to try and help me out with my NOS application but some things that happened in 2005 are no longer applicable for 2018.

October 2017 - sent waiver application to USCIS and CFO.
January 2018 - NOS application denied and given 30 days to appeal.
February 2018 - sent appeal letter and necessary documents to CFO.
March 2018 - NOS application approved by CFO.
April 2018 - NOS approval given and sent to Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC. PI Embassy sent NOS to US Department of State. Online case status updated to favorable recommendation by DOS and decision sent to USCIS.

I'm currently waiting for the letter from the US DoS regarding the recommendation, and for the notice of receipt from USCIS (all thru snail mail).

A few things to note! The EVP/CFO will only approve NOS applications if one of the following applies to you:
a. You are not in the skills list.
b. You married a US citizen.
c. You are a parent of a US citizen.
d. You are a religious worker in a recognized religious denomination.
e. You have an ailing family member who is a US citizen and separation will cause severe threat to the life of the latter.

I tried going through the "making the country proud though my achievements" route but it didn't work. I eventually had to send the necessary papers documenting why I fall into one of their guidelines.

Also, AUTHENTICATE ALL YOUR US DOCUMENTS. The Philippine Embassy/Consulates will not authenticate passports or federal documents, but if you get them authenticated through the Department of State first then have them authenticate the authenticated documents at the embassy/consulate... you'll be in good hands. Confusing process, which is why I wanted to share it here.

I'll give further updates in the future for a timeline on the processing time for NOS J1 waivers.

New Member

Signing up to this forum expecting some information and details base on member experience, here is my short story.

I am a electronic engineer and work for a world class electronic company in the Philippines for about 14 years as a Equipment Engineer.
A Equipment Engineer working on different types of Manufacturing Machinery like design, fabrication, maintenance, repair and procurement.

Having a good working relationship with one of our US supplier and they are interested to hire me that would be base in US on position of Project Engineer, they sponsor me and file petition for H1B visa since 2015 and another petition filed this year 2018 for FY2019 under Non Advance Degree but we can't win the H1B lottery so the company is looking for other option if the H1B this year will not again successful.

One of the Option is having J1 visa under training program but there are a lot of consideration because the company want me to be there long term as regular employee.

What do you think guys this option will work on my Job Offer in US ?
Do i have a chance to have a green card after J1 visa validity to stay?

New Member

I just wanted to share my experience with my NOS application from the EVP. I used this forum previously to try and help me out with my NOS application but some things that happened in 2005 are no longer applicable for 2018.

October 2017 - sent waiver application to USCIS and CFO.
January 2018 - NOS application denied and given 30 days to appeal.
February 2018 - sent appeal letter and necessary documents to CFO.
March 2018 - NOS application approved by CFO.
April 2018 - NOS approval given and sent to Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC. PI Embassy sent NOS to US Department of State. Online case status updated to favorable recommendation by DOS and decision sent to USCIS.

I'm currently waiting for the letter from the US DoS regarding the recommendation, and for the notice of receipt from USCIS (all thru snail mail).

A few things to note! The EVP/CFO will only approve NOS applications if one of the following applies to you:
a. You are not in the skills list.
b. You married a US citizen.
c. You are a parent of a US citizen.
d. You are a religious worker in a recognized religious denomination.
e. You have an ailing family member who is a US citizen and separation will cause severe threat to the life of the latter.

I tried going through the "making the country proud though my achievements" route but it didn't work. I eventually had to send the necessary papers documenting why I fall into one of their guidelines.

Also, AUTHENTICATE ALL YOUR US DOCUMENTS. The Philippine Embassy/Consulates will not authenticate passports or federal documents, but if you get them authenticated through the Department of State first then have them authenticate the authenticated documents at the embassy/consulate... you'll be in good hands. Confusing process, which is why I wanted to share it here.

I'll give further updates in the future for a timeline on the processing time for NOS J1 waivers.

I am also about to apply for NOS this month. I can see that CFO denied your NOS application when you went through the "making the country proud through my achievements" route and appealed the case by sending documents that would support your case for why you fall into one of their guidelines.

My questions are:
(1) What reasons did you indicate in your letter to CFO for them to issue you an NOS aside from "making our country proud from your achievement"?
(2) What sort of necessary documents did you send when you appealed your case?
(3) Is your profession in the skills list? If so, how did you get away from that restriction?

New Member

I am also about to apply for NOS this month. I can see that CFO denied your NOS application when you went through the "making the country proud through my achievements" route and appealed the case by sending documents that would support your case for why you fall into one of their guidelines.

My questions are:
(1) What reasons did you indicate in your letter to CFO for them to issue you an NOS aside from "making our country proud from your achievement"?
(2) What sort of necessary documents did you send when you appealed your case?
(3) Is your profession in the skills list? If so, how did you get away from that restriction?

To answer questions 1&3, I am in the exchange visitors skills list which is why they denied my initial application. It was just my luck that I just got married to a US citizen when I received the initial letter denying my application, so I sent them the necessary documents to appeal their decision. All the documents they need are listed in their guidelines. You can find them in a website called newyorkpcg.org (I’m not allowed to post links yet).

I just now (literally) received my waiver approval from USCIS. Good luck on your application!

New Member

The EVP/CFO just received my application on Monday and they will discuss my case on their next meeting this June. My program is in the skills list, not married to US citizen, not a parent of a US citizen child, no ailing relatives/immediate family and not religious worker. I don't know how they are going to deal with my case, nevertheless, I am hoping for a favorable result.

New Member

Thanks for the prompt reply NOS_applicant_PI! Good luck on your application LK20.

I am about to send my application package tomorrow to CFO and DOS. Quick question, how did you remit the payment to CFO? I tried xoom.com and Western Union, but they only accept remittance if it is person to person and not person to a commercial entity such as CFO. Please advise.

New Member

Thanks for the prompt reply NOS_applicant_PI! Good luck on your application LK20.

I am about to send my application package tomorrow to CFO and DOS. Quick question, how did you remit the payment to CFO? I tried xoom.com and Western Union, but they only accept remittance if it is person to person and not person to a commercial entity such as CFO. Please advise.

I encountered the same problem in paying the application fee so I called the CFO and asked for possible payment options. They told me I could ask a family in the Philippines to deposit the said application fee on my behalf. So, I ended up asking my mom in the Philippines to pay the application fee in Landbank ($125) and the bank teller will automatically convert that to peso, since their account is peso account and not a dollar account, then my mom scanned the receipt and emailed to me. I printed that out and sent together with my application.

New Member

I asked a friend to deposit the application fee in Land Bank on my behalf. Since it is already weekend in the Philippines, the transaction will be made on Monday. So my next target would be to send the application package by Tuesday, next week.

LK20, my program is also in the skill list and there is no reason that they will grant me an automatic NOS. What sort of reasons did you use for your NOS?

New Member

Thanks for the prompt reply NOS_applicant_PI! Good luck on your application LK20.

I am about to send my application package tomorrow to CFO and DOS. Quick question, how did you remit the payment to CFO? I tried xoom.com and Western Union, but they only accept remittance if it is person to person and not person to a commercial entity such as CFO. Please advise.

I actually asked my brother to pay for it but with my CENOMAR, BDO Remit was the way to go. I’m assuming it’s the same for the EVP but it would be best to email them first and ask. They usually reply within a week.

If EVP says you can use BDO Remit, email them first (Daly City branch, if I remember correctly) and they’ll send you the form you’ll need to fill up. Mail it with a personal check and you’re all set. Just make sure to put in the necessary details.

New Member

The EVP/CFO just received my application on Monday and they will discuss my case on their next meeting this June. My program is in the skills list, not married to US citizen, not a parent of a US citizen child, no ailing relatives/immediate family and not religious worker. I don't know how they are going to deal with my case, nevertheless, I am hoping for a favorable result.

Good luck on your application, LK20. I’m not sure if they’ll approve your case unless you have a really strong argument on why they should approve your application. But like I said in my previous post, the “making the country proud”-route didn’t work for me.

New Member

Good luck on your application, LK20. I’m not sure if they’ll approve your case unless you have a really strong argument on why they should approve your application. But like I said in my previous post, the “making the country proud”-route didn’t work for me.

New Member

UPDATE: CFO just acknowledged my application packet, which was delivered to CFO on June 11th. However, they are asking to submit the authenticated copy of my Third Party Barcode Page indicating my Waiver Review File Number. This is just funny. Why do you need to authenticate a third party barcode page? Anyway, I will work on this matter tomorrow and expect to send them the authenticated form by next week.

New Member

I wasted no time and went to the Philippine Consulate today. San Francisco is just an hour drive anyway from where I live. I am now waiting for the authenticated form from the Philippine Embassy.

I just learned that you need to make an affidavit that you indeed received the third party barcode with the indicated waiver file number from the US Department of State, then have it notarized, and finally authenticated by the Philippine Consulate.

New Member

Hello... I've read the thread and still need advice. I just filled out the waiver application of USCIS and CFO.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
1. I have to have all my support documents notarized.
2. After notary, I need to have these authenticated by the Philippines Embassy/Consulate
3. Next is to mail all these documents together with the application to USCIS and CFO
4. Then, I have to wait for a response before I mail the 2nd packet (Third Party Barcode page) ???

My initial plan was to do step three then mail the Third Party Barcode page.
Please advise. Thank you.

New Member

Hello... I've read the thread and still need advice. I just filled out the waiver application of USCIS and CFO.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
1. I have to have all my support documents notarized.
2. After notary, I need to have these authenticated by the Philippines Embassy/Consulate
3. Next is to mail all these documents together with the application to USCIS and CFO
4. Then, I have to wait for a response before I mail the 2nd packet (Third Party Barcode page) ???

My initial plan was to do step three then mail the Third Party Barcode page.
Please advise. Thank you.

All your supporting documents from the US (including the bar code from USCIS) need to be authenticated, they will notarize it for you already so no need to worry about that. It’ll cost you $25 per document (at least that was the amount in LA). You’ll need to go to the consulate/embassy for this. Philippine documents need to be original.

Look for the EVP guidelines online, they will tell you which documents need to be submitted. If I remember correctly, all I needed to submit were the filled up NOS application form, authenticated USCIS bar code (not the actual USCIS application form), supporting documents, and the receipt of the payment. All documents (except receipt) were in triplicate copies. Only 1 copy of each document needs to be authenticated. Pay using Philippine peso the equivalent dollar amount for that day, by the way. No need to mail a 2nd packet if you’ve submitted everything already.